El Cajon working to reduce pedestrian deaths

el cajon — Since January 2011, 10 people have died in El Cajon after being hit by cars — and in every case the pedestrian was at fault.

The numbers alarmed El Cajon police, after having no pedestrian fatalities in 2010 and having only one in each of the two prior years.

To raise awareness about pedestrian safety, the Police Department has launched the “Check before you step” education campaign.

“That age old myth that pedestrians always have the right of way couldn’t be further from the truth,” said police Lt. Frank LaHaye, who is heading up the effort. “They have to share the road and abide by the same rules of the road as the motorist.”

Pedestrian fatalities are a problem beyond El Cajon.

About 1,000 accidents involving pedestrians and vehicles occur annually in the county, resulting in an average of 50 deaths and 125 serious injuries, according to Walk San Diego, a nonprofit that promotes making city streets safe to walk.

Kathleen Ferrier, the group’s policy development manager, said the San Diego metropolitan area had the fifth highest pedestrian fatality rate out of 50 metro regions in the country, according to the organization’s national partner, Transportation for America.

Ferrier said El Cajon’s pedestrian education program is the type of program her group would like to see in more cities to raise awareness of the issue.

So far, El Cajon police have held four well-attended community forums on pedestrian safety, said police Lt. Jeff Arvan.

Officers are also going to elementary and middle schools to educate students, especially those who walk to school. Students are given safety pamphlets and are participating in poster contests. The winning entries will be posted at the Westfield Parkway Mall.

At the high schools, the police are developing a program where students will put together videos on pedestrian safety.

Beyond education, officers are also actively looking for and citing jaywalkers, LaHaye said.

A jaywalking citation could cost a pedestrian as much as $195.

Pedestrians become vulnerable to being hit when they’re not paying attention, police officials said.

It sounds obvious, but police said people need to avoid talking on the phone or texting while walking. They shouldn’t walk while wearing headphones.

And they need to heed walk/don’t walk signs, cross streets at intersections, and avoid wearing dark clothes at night and walking in areas where there is little light.

LaHaye said many of the collisions involving pedestrians are caused by the choices they made.

A woman was killed last year and her companion was injured in El Cajon when they walked out of a bar and crossed in the middle of the street even though there was a nearby crosswalk.

Officer Josh Pittsley said all the couple had to do was walk about 100 feet to the crosswalk and then 100 feet to get to their vehicle.

“But their car was parked right across the street,” Pittsley said, and they took a chance.

A traffic officer since 2008, Pittsley said pedestrians often say after crashes that they didn’t see the car, they thought they could make it across the street or that the car “must have been going really fast.”

Pittsley said that if a car were on a football field and the driver entered the end zone at 40 mph and suddenly saw a pedestrian standing at the 50-yard line, “he will hit that person before he can stop,” Pittsley said.